DESCRIPTION: (Applicant's Description) The overall objective of this proposal is to transform the current Department of Human Genetics DNA Sequencing Core into an Institution-wide, state-of-the-art, high-quality sequencing, genotyping, and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) shared resource to advance cancer-related and other research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. With this grant application and a significant Institutional commitment for capital equipment purchases, this Core will be upgraded and enhanced to provide these services to all NCI-funded, NIH-funded, and other Investigators at Mount Sinai. Throughput will be greatly increased and Core services will be highly accessible to cancer-oriented and other research efforts. The Core will provide in-house expertise and consultation services for all sequencing, genotyping, and LOH projects. This Core will meet the intense needs of cancer and other researchers for on-site sequencing to speed gene discovery, gene structure analysis, mutation characterization, analysis of vector constructs, etc. Since most cancers have an underlying genetic susceptibility factor, a high-throughput facility for the identification of human genetic variation in the form of haplotype differences is invaluable for cancer-gene discovery. Frequent quality control assessments will be used to validate the accuracy, quality and throughput of all Core services. The Core will provide educational opportunities to the Mount Sinai community through minicourses, presentations and workshops. The goal is to encourage use of Core resources to further reduce costs for cancer-related and other research at Mount Sinai. In addition to the visibility gained by the educational efforts of the Core, investigator awareness of the availability and features of Core services will be promulgated through creation of a Website, campus-wide E-mail announcements and a biannual newsletter. The Core will also evaluate and implement new, protocols, upgrades and technology to meet the ever changing and expanding needs of modern biomedical research. Importantly, equitable, cost-effective and responsive Core services will be promoted through the establishment of an Institutional Advisory Committee. This multidisciplinary committee will provide oversight and coordination of Core services. They will review costs and income regularly and annually adjust prices to achieve the greatest possible savings to investigators. They will also identify and recommend novel strategies, technologies, instrumentation, and resources to further facilitate and foster cutting-edge cancer and other research.